The Effectiveness of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) in Reducing Women's Marital Conflict

Abstract

Aim: The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of emotionally focused therapy (EFT) in reducing marital conflict in women. Methods: The present quasi-experimental study was a pretest-posttest with experimental and control groups and its statistical population consisted of married women with marital conflict. We selected 28 women from those, who participated in emotionally focused training sessions and randomly assigned them to experimental (N=14) and control (N=14) groups. The women in the experimental group received a 90-minute Johnson's Emotionally Focused Therapy intervention (2004). Both groups answered the Marital Conflict Questionnaire by Barati et al. (1996) before and after the training sessions. We analyzed the data using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Results: The results indicated that emotionally focused therapy was effective in reducing marital conflict (P=0.001, F=92.96), and components of marital conflict in women in the experimental group. Conclusion: Emotionally focused therapy improved marital conflict scores compared to the control group. According to the research findings, emotionally focused therapy was effective in reducing marital conflict.